RestonWeb

[Bob Bruhns]

This set of rules was developed, based on rules from the older boards, and the rules from these boards, and explanations and posts from Mary Chadsey (the owner) and the moderators. These rules may change gradually over time, but their general trend and intent should be reasonably clear.

(NOTE - December 27, 2009) These rules are general guidelines, but enforcement is being greatly loosened at this time, until further notice. Users should not take this as a signal to go totally out of control, but formerly strong enforcement is suspended for the time being, and formerly suspended and banned users are reactivated.

As of the end of 2009, Mary Chadsey and I are board administrators. Mary is the majority owner of the board; I am a volunteer. If anyone has a problem, generally I am the person to contact, but you can contact either of us.

bbruhns (at) erols (dot) com or mary (at) chadsey (dot) com

Changes:

December 27, 2009 - These rules temporarily reduced to guidelines.

March 9, 2008 - No ridiculous user names, no business names, website urls, e-mail addresses, etc, for user names.

September 29, 2007 - Participants are completely responsible for what they post. This discussion board is not responsible for any statements posted by any member. This has been the case all along, but it needs to be clearly stated.

June 27, 2006 - Corrected the webmaster's e-mail address, removed several statements about posts being removed that were missed on May 15, 2006.

May 15, 2006 - Remedies for personal attacks and similar violations.
(1) Posts may not be edited in any way or removed individually by the moderator. (2) Violations of board rules that would require the removal of a post or any section of a post must be done by the poster only. (3) If the offending poster will not remove or tone down the offensive text adequately, then the entire thread - not just the offending post - must be removed, and the offending poster will be subject to suspension for a significant period of time such as a week or a month, or expulsion if this behavior has been ongoing. (4) Previous permission for public figures to respond harshly is revoked. All posters must conform to the rules of polite courtesy.

April 22, 2006 - Public figures (candidates, incumbent public servants, etc) may get tough online if attacked. (Revoked May 15, 2006)

April 5, 2006 - a change was made regarding personal disputes and messaging.

April 2, 2006 - a change was made to the number of user names allowed.

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Participants are completely responsible for what they post. This discussion board is not responsible for any statements posted by any member.

Respect the privacy of others. Do not post other's phone numbers, addresses, pictures, etc., without their permission.

Do not create an account using someone else's name, or company name, etc. An obscure historic figure might be an exception.

The ability to make an anonymous comment has merit and value, if it is not abused to make pot-shot attacks, or the false appearance of agreement or general consensus. Therefore, board members may have one anonymous account, if they have an account that bears their first name and surname, or if their identities and their use of a particular screen name is known on the board or the internet. However, if your existing screen name is not known to be associated with your identity, then it is preferred that you continue with only one user name. Also, poll voting may be made only with one of the accounts (no multiple voting allowed).

The former rule about having a single user name existed because of past abuse. This change will mean that voting in polls is an honor system thing - but it always was, because several board users already have, and use, a second name.

Keep disagreements civil. You certainly don't have to agree with everyone on the boards, but keep your disagreements on topic. You can argue a point without being nasty.

No grudge fests, no stalking. Do not harrass any member with unwanted e-mail or private messages. Do not send messages and then block responses. Such things are unhealthy, and if you persist you will be expelled.

Do not post comments to bait others into a personal disagreement unrelated to the board topic. Do not engage in personal arguments. And please, whenever possible, help steer others away from personal arguments as well!

NO PERSONAL ATTACKS. There is no reason whatsoever for name calling and rudeness. You can argue and disagree while still being respectful of others. Harassing, offensive, vulgar, abusive, hateful or bashing communications - including those aimed at sexual orientation, gender, race, religion, national origin, or disability will absolutely not be tolerated.

Ad hominem attacks are not welcome. Criticize ideas, not people. Flaming will not be tolerated. Personal attacks are defined as Personal, Racial, Ethnic, and/or Gender based insults, slurs, or derisive comments. This particularly applies to comments about people by name - don't do that.

It is obviously not possible to make serious political commentary without indicating disagreement with public figures. But don't descend to the level of "Supervisor So-and-so is a Big Fat Idiot!" Discussions in the Political forums will be more heated than discussions in the Town or special interest forums, but insults and baiting will not be tolerated.

Political and religious thoughts generally belong in the Political Perspectives forum, or, where appropriate, in the Herndon Politics forum. Political and religious issues are not generally proper subjects for the Reston Perspective, Herndon Perspective, or the Gardening, Real Estate or Dining forums. Notices of political meetings of known general and widespread interest can be placed in the town boards, but serious discussions of narrow political or religious issues, blogs of religious thoughts, and reminders of various anniversaries (except for locality-specific events), generally do not belong there, but belong in the political forums.

Complaints about a business are generally not appropriate. Reviews of restaurants and comments about specific companies should highlight the positive, downplay the negatives, and avoid slander and libel altogether. And people won't respond well to a diatribe anyway. If some business is being stupid, they will lose customers. The board should not be a clearinghouse for gripes and grudges against businesses. Counties have Consumer Protection Departments for these disputes.

This is an English language board. With occasional exceptions, posts shall be made in plain English.

Do not use obscenity or foul language. Our boards are open to people of all ages to communicate with others.

Blatant advertising will not be tolerated. You may not post any form of advertising, including links to merchant sites, products for sale, and money-making scams. No offering of business services. No business names, website urls, e-mail addresses, etc., for user names. No advertising in "signatures." Notices of non-profit events have been considered an exception to this rule.


Complaints need to be communicated privately to the owner ( webmaster@restonweb.com ), or to a moderator, using PM and/or EMail.

No trolling. Don't make posts that are inflammatory just to get people riled up. Substance is the key to not being labeled a troll.

NO SPAMMING, no commercial-oriented posts, and no flooding with useless content. No offering business services. No advertising in "signatures." Business or website names for screen names is asking for trouble.

No pornographic, sexually offensive, sexually explicit, or objectifying material. Simple rule. Moderator's judgment applies here.

No ridiculous user names.

Be kind to others. Please don't forget that you are talking to living feeling human beings on these boards! The internet is somewhat dehumanizing, and you may be tempted to say things in "cyberspace" that you would never say to someone's face.

Don't be afraid to post. A very wise person once told me that "the only stupid questions are the ones you don't ask". Don't be afraid to sound dumb, these forums are here for you to learn from others!

Make new posters feel welcome. Remember that "newbies" may be intimidated to post, and that they can greatly benefit from the "old timers" on the boards. If you've been around for a while, be sure to introduce yourself to the newbies, and help show them the ropes.

Feel free to lurk. You don't have to post messages to learn from the boards. Some people enjoy reading the posts without posting anything themselves, which is fine.

Follow the rules of general "netiquette". Don't post multiple times - this is considered SPAM and is rude. Multiple posts can happen by mistake. You can delete the duplicate.

Don't make anti-war posts in memorial threads. Yes, we may hate a war, but we must respect those who served and were lost, and those who lost them.

Individual situations will be decided by moderators and administrators. Gross, obvious and particularly repeated violations may result suspension or expulsion without notice. Offensive posts or other violations of posting rules must be removed by the poster. If the poster will not remove them, then the entire thread they are in will be removed, and the offending poster will be subject to suspension or expulsion depending on circumstances. Posters making less serious violations will be warned. Some obscenities and derogatory terms are automatically edited by the board software itself.

Basically, if you were at a function at someone's home, and people started bringing up subjects that you didn't agree with, how would you react? Civilly, I would hope. This is what I ask of you here. Act civilly.

You cannot expect your host to monitor everything that everyone says, let alone be responsible for what they say. This is a public forum, free to users, created by users and privately owned.